Silesia

Silesia
Historical region
Flag Coat of arms
Austrian Silesia, before 1740 Prussian annexation   Prussian Silesia, 1871   Oder river Basemap shows modern national borders.
Coordinates: 51°36′N 17°12′E / 51.6°N 17.2°E / 51.6; 17.2
Country	Poland  Czech Republic  Germany
Largest city	Wrocław
Area
• Total	40,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi)
Population
• Total	c. 8,000,000
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Silesia (Polish: Śląsk; German: Schlesien; Latin: Silesia; Silesian: Ślůnsk) is a historical region of Poland. From 1742 to 1945, it was a province in the east of Prussia and later Germany. In 1945, all of Poland was occupied by the Soviet Red Army. In the following years, the communist occupant enacted laws that in effect chased away all of the remaining owners.